Painting an Accent Wall

3 Materials
$10
45 Minutes
Medium

A while ago I created a wall display beside our living room stairs with an old quilt frame piece, a throw, and an oil painting.


Even though I loved the pieces that I was using in the display I felt that as a whole it was missing something, so I decided to turn it into an accent wall.


Sometimes staircase walls are completely forgotten about because we don't know what to do with them, but I think they can make excellent accent walls.


Disclosure: This post is written in collaboration with Wagner Spray Tech, all opinions are my own.

Here's how it looked when I originally created the display.


As you can tell by the floor I'm a girl who loves color, and this wall just needed a little extra something.


I also thought the stairs looked a little lost in all the white.

I removed all the items, leaving the screws in place to make it easier for me when I'm done.

To create my accent wall I was so excited to try the Wagner Flexio 5000 Paint Sprayer, which came in this handy dandy case.

It comes with two spray nozzles: a larger one for rooms and larger projects, and a smaller nozzle for detail finishes such as cabinetry or trim.

The sprayer was very easy to set up. I followed the detailed instructions and I had no problem at all.

For my accent wall I'm using the larger iSpray nozzle.


You can adjust the spray shape, the spray width, and the air pressure... depending on the project you're working on.

To prepare for painting the room I taped around my wall with pre-taped plastic that expands to 24” wide. This is just in case of over spray.


Also, I live in a very old house with wonky walls, which means there's no such thing as a straight line. By taping I get the illusion of straight lines where there aren't any.


Even if I was painting with brushes and a roller I would still be taping to get those straight lines, so this didn't take any extra time at all.


Like any painting tape, make sure it's down good and secure before painting.

The paint sprayer came with a sample pack of plastic liners, which I decided to try. I put a liner into the container, folded the excess over the top, poured in my paint, let it settle in a bit, and then screwed the nozzle back onto the container right over the plastic.


For my accent wall I'm using a Beautitone latex paint named Quiet Pond. It's such a pretty color.


When I was done I just removed it, drained the leftover paint back into the can, and tossed the liner away.

With this paint sprayer you can paint horizontally or vertically.


Because my walls are very high I decided that horizontally would work better for me. To get the best outcome you should move along the wall with the sprayer, rather than just moving the sprayer along with your hand.


If, like me, you've never used a paint sprayer before it's a good idea to find a place to practice. I couldn't take mine outside to try because winter has already arrived here, so I took it down into the basement and practiced on a large piece of cardboard.


Once I got the hang of it, which didn't take long, I was moving along pretty good... and there really wasn't much over spray.

My living room ceiling is 9 1/2 feel high, and because the motor of the sprayer is in the case on the floor it was very easy for me to do the painting at the top of the wall while on a ladder. (My hubby held it for me. Safety first, always.)


But I couldn't follow along with the sprayer so I painted in sections, and that worked really well for me.

And here's my finished accent wall ready to be decorated.


The blue is such a happy color, and I love that now the wall is a nice backdrop to the stairs.

I put my items back on the wall, adding a few more things to follow the line of the stairs.


Painting the wall took me about 45 minutes, including the taping time. For me the paint sprayer was faster than when I'm using brushes for cutting and a roller for the wall because then I always have to do two coats.


With the paint sprayer this wall only needed one coat, and it used very little paint. Only about half the container.


And clean up was very easy.


Here are a few paint sprayer tips:

1) read the instructions

2) practice first if you've never used one before

3) wipe the sprayer nozzle periodically so it stays clear

4) use the right nozzle for the job


I'm very happy with how my wall turned out, and the paint sprayer was a great experience and I can't wait to use it again.

Resources for this project:
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  2 questions
  • Millies_mom47 Millies_mom47 on Dec 04, 2019

    I LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS COLOR!!! I've been planning on painting where we live. We have permission from the landlord and he's even agreed to pay for the paint. We've been here 3.5 years and the place was never painted and you can see where the owners had painted and stopped, so there's a lot of flaws to cover. Plus when they did the house they wallpapered the biggest wall and instead of removing it when they painted they painted over the wallpaper and it has tears and such and looks awful. So I'm going to do shiplap and then paint the rooms main color over it and the other walls then I have a wall that will have a focal color and your blue is the focal one I've been looking for so I hope that they still make it. When was it you did this paint so I can find out if it's still available to make?

  • Millies_mom47 Millies_mom47 on Dec 04, 2019

    On other thing. You state you spent $10. How is that possible with the cost of paint and a paint sprayer (which usually runs over $100), and the supplies? I could see if you had the painter given to you and you already had the paint and supplies, then maybe. But how? What's your actual cost?

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  • Sue Sue on Dec 02, 2019

    That is my absolute favorite color so I was thrilled to see it on your wall! I think maybe the spray painters have come a long way since the one that Sharon Harris used years ago I have never used one but love any short cuts. I would have taken a small paint brush and went around the decorative trim on the sides of the staircase there with the same blue paint. Just me, that's what I would have done. Love this thanks for sharing.

  • Ma Ma on Jan 28, 2020

    Pretty. I like the way it helps the staircase to stand out. And I can tell from one of the pictures another of your projects (the stamp decoupaged table) is sitting just out of sight beside the green chair. :)

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